


Fragment

by LtLJ



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alien Flora & Fauna, Gen, Humor, Team, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-01
Updated: 2012-06-01
Packaged: 2017-11-06 12:38:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/419011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LtLJ/pseuds/LtLJ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team is exploring an Ancient ruin, and have to come to terms with the local fauna.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fragment

"Oh, that's great," Rodney said. It was a clear night and they were sitting around the campfire near the jumpers. If you squinted, it might have been a campout in some remote National Park on Earth, with insects singing in the grass, stars gleaming overhead, Marines on guard, and the lifesigns detector scanning for Wraith, Genii, and everything else that wanted to kill them. "The giant bat is here again. I told you not to feed it." Then he wondered at where his life had taken him, that that was a rational thing to say.

Sitting across the campfire, Sheppard gave him a look. "I threw a piece of fruit at it, Rodney, I didn't adopt it."

The giant bat had shown up two days ago, just as everyone was about to return to camp for dinner. Rodney had been walking with Sheppard, with Dr. Rousseau a few paces in front of them.

Just as Rousseau stepped around the jumper, she froze, made a strangled yelp, and leapt backward. She smacked into Rodney, babbling in rapid French. Sheppard moved in front of them, instantly going from casual and relaxed to predatory.

"English, Rousseau, English," Rodney said urgently, trying to pry her off his chest. She wasn't saying "Wraith," he could tell that much. He looked at Sheppard's back, demanding, "What the hell is she saying?"

"It sounds like she's saying 'giant bat,'" Sheppard said, peering cautiously around the jumper, "so my French must be worse than I-- Jesus!"

"Giant bat," Rousseau managed, giving Rodney a shove toward Sheppard.

Rodney edged up behind him, Rousseau clinging to his arm. At first he didn't see anything. Their campsite, the other jumper, the wall of the ruin with the big fruit-vine-like plant climbing it. Then part of the wall moved. Rodney gasped and found himself returning Rousseau's frantic cling.

It was the biggest freaking bat in the whole history of bats. It was six feet tall at least, crouched on the rocks beside the vine. It was grey-brown, with huge reptilian wings and almost delicate claws at each tip.

Sheppard was aiming the P-90 at it, but hadn't fired. He said, "That's...one big bat."

"No, really?" Rodney gasped. "You think?"

As they watched, one clawed foot reached out, snagged a piece of yellow fruit off the vine, and brought it to the fox-like jaw. It watched them while it ate, with big thoughtful eyes. Sheppard shifted a few steps sideways, soundless on the dusty ground, and its eyes followed him, flicked for an instant back to Rodney and Rousseau, then settled on Sheppard again. "It's not blind, unless its sonar is just really sophisticated."

"Are you going to shoot it?" Rodney demanded. Rousseau nodded frantically.

"It's not attacking us," Sheppard said, reluctantly. "And it's eating fruit."

Rousseau said something in French that Rodney interpreted as, "Oh, the hell you're not shooting it!" He added, "What she said."

"It hasn't done anything yet," Sheppard pointed out. "I don't want to antagonize it. What if the rest of the herd, flock, whatever gets pissed off and attacks us?"

"Ah." Rousseau, having apparently regained enough composure to speak English again, admitted, "That is a good point."

"Right, right," Rodney grumbled. He found himself glad that Sheppard wasn't the kind of man who shot animals just because they were there, but still, giant bat. "So what are we going to do about it?"

Sheppard keyed on his radio. "All teams, return to base camp. Approach from the south side and take extra care."

Rodney heard Ford's voice on the headset. "Trouble, Major?"

"Not just yet. We have a giant bat in camp."

"Right, sir. Is Robin there too?"

"He's not kidding, Lieutenant," Rodney snapped.

There was a pause. "Oh."

They had a meeting, and the upshot of it was they shifted the camp back about a fifty yards from the fruit vines, which was about as far as they could get without making it difficult for the jumpers to lift off in a hurry. And they also decided that anyone who was small enough to be carried off by a giant bat needed to sleep inside the jumpers. It was pretty obvious this included Corrigan and Rousseau, who were the smallest people in camp. But when it came to the military contingent, apparently conceding the necessity was some sort of admission of weakness. "Okay, right, Teyla should sleep in the jumper," Sheppard had said, exasperated, "But I am not small enough to be carried off by a giant bat. I'm taller than you."

"Yes, but you're light," Rodney argued impatiently. "You practically disappear when you turn sideways. And the last time I was dragging you while you were unconscious--"

"I will not be carried off by a giant bat either," Teyla objected. "I have been a fighter for--"

Rodney flung his arms in the air in exasperation. "I don't care if you can rip its pelvis out with your teeth! I can pick you up and I have a bad back!"

They didn't resolve anything, except that despite having smaller bones, Yamato weighed more than Ford, and that Benson could pick up anybody in camp with one arm.

The bat had apparently settled in for the long haul.

 

end


End file.
